WhatsApp Channels now available in India and over 150 countries

The initial set of channels that will be available to WhatsApp users at launch include The Indian Cricket team, Katrina Kaif, Diljit Dosanjh, Akshay Kumar, Vijay Deverakonda, and Neha Kakkar among others

WhatsApp said on September 13 that it is extending its broadcast-based messaging feature Channels to India and over 150 countries over the next few weeks, as the Meta-owned messaging app looks to expand its offerings to consumers.

First announced in June 2023, WhatsApp Channels allows people and organizations to send text, photos, videos, stickers and polls to users who follow them within the application, quite similar to the ones you see on Instagram. This includes celebrities, sports teams, artists, and thought leaders.

The initial set of channels that will be available to WhatsApp users at launch include The Indian Cricket team, Katrina Kaif, Diljit Dosanjh, Akshay Kumar, Vijay Deverakonda, and Neha Kakkar, among others. WhatsApp and Meta's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg will also offer their own separate channels on the messaging platform.

Channels will be available through a separate tab on WhatsApp called Updates, which is essentially a rebranded version of the existing Status tab.

The Updates tab will feature channels that users can follow as well as its ephemeral Status feature that allows users to post messages that disappear after 24 hours. WhatsApp mentioned that this tab will be kept separate from the user's personal chats with their family, friends, and communities.

"Our goal is to build the most private broadcast service available," the company said in a blogpost. Prior to today's rollout, the service was available in 10 countries including Singapore, Colombia, Malaysia, Kenya, Chile, Egypt and Ukraine.

New Channels features

Along with its global rollout, WhatsApp is also introducing several new features to Channels. This includes an improved directory that will allow users to browse through channels that are automatically filtered based on their country. One can also view channels that are new, most active, and popular based on the number of followers.

Admins will be able to make changes to their updates for up to 30 days, after which WhatsApp will automatically delete them from their servers, the company said. One can also react using emojis to give feedback and see a count of total reactions.

Whenever people forward an update to their personal chats or groups, it will include a link back to the channel to enable better discovery. Users will be able to see a limited history of each channel before following it, enabling them to decide whether they want to follow the channel or not.

At the moment, the ability to create channels is still restricted although WhatsApp said it will enable anyone to create a channel in the coming months.

In a bid to address privacy concerns, WhatsApp won't show the admin's phone number and profile photo to their followers. Similarly, following a channel won't reveal the user's phone number to the admin or other followers. The channels that the user followers will also be kept private, the company said.

Channel notifications are muted by default, and users will have the option to turn on notifications for updates that they don't want to miss.

Over the past few months, WhatsApp has been adding a slew of new features to bolster its messaging platform.

Last month, the messaging application introduced a new screen-sharing feature that allows users to share their screens on phone or PC, during a video call. Prior to this, it introduced instant video messages that allows users to record and share short 60-second videos directly in the chat window.

WhatsApp has also made it easier for people to start groups and now allows them to automatically silence incoming calls from unknown contacts. In May, it debuted a Chat Lock feature to help users password-protect specific private conversations.